


(Ex) Lover’s Eyes

by paisparker



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Minor Angst, Songfic, Sort Of, exes alexluke, friendship fluff, idk what qualifies as a songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26893582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paisparker/pseuds/paisparker
Summary: Julie stumbles upon one of Luke’s old songbooks, and he opens up about a past relationship.
Relationships: (past), Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie, Alex & Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina & Alex (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina & Luke Patterson, Julie Molina & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 275





	(Ex) Lover’s Eyes

See, Luke had a plan on how exactly he would confront Julie to tell her about his sexuality, and hopefully she held the answers to his seemingly endless amounts of questions. Or, at least, hopefully her 'google' would.

However, what he didn't anticipate was her finding an old songbook of his. In a more optimistic light, he was sort of glad she did because for one, it contained some songs he had been really proud of—ones that Bobby hadn't even known of, and two, he was never the most apt with his words, preferring to charge them into songs anyways.

The Puerto Rican girl had been cleaning up bits of the loft one morning. School had been out for Thanksgiving break, and the band had decided to pitch in and actually clean up the space they'd been occupying. 

Alex was busy organizing different tracks, lyric and notebooks, and any other item that could've used adjustment to make the place seem neater from their jostling around.

Reggie was dusting, spraying, and wiping down surfaces of the nitty gritty spots of the garage.

And Luke? He was supposed to be helping Julie carry down anything they could make useful from the loft down to ground level, however he was instead pacing the floor as Julie rummaged through a box.

"Dude you're doing Alex' model strut, what's wrong?" Reggie asked. 

The ghost in question looked up at the window, ignoring the question, and shook his head.

Reggie shared a glance with Alex, both boys confused and unsettled at the off kiltered behaviour of their friend.

"Luke?" The blonde asked, gaining yet again, no response. He put his hand on the brunette's shoulder, shaking him out of whatever reverie he was in. 

"Huh?" He asked innocently.

"Bro you've been pacing for like five minutes. Tell us what's going on." Alex said in a concerned manner, with his hand not leaving its comforting spot on Luke's shoulder.

"Nothing." Luke told him. 

Alex raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Nothing! Really it's just..." He sighed. "I'm trying to figure out a way to tell Julie about, yknow." He explained.

The drummer, although acknowledging what the boy said, was too immersed with the sight behind Luke, his eyes blown wide in nervousness. "Uh, you may not have to."

Luke turned around to see Julie was paging through a leather bound book that rested in her palms. 

"Hey, Luke, is this another one of your songbooks?" She questioned.

"Uh... Y-Yeah. Yeah, wow um, god I thought I lost that." He responded, gently taking the book into his own hands.

He thumbed over the cover, taking in the feel of the smooth rawhide. 

Alex smiled softly looking at it. He had given the book to Luke on their sixth month anniversary, having saved up his chore money for two months at the time to pick out something nice. He had found it at a hippie looking store on the boardwalk, that had the scent of dozens of herbs, natural soaps, and oils blended together. The book came from a small town in India, which held cows as sacred animals, and used every part of it humanely when it had died a natural death. He fell in love with it immediately, and he knew Luke would too.

The brunette walked over to the piano and opened up pages, grinning at the remembrance of certain songs like "In Too Deep" and "Walk The Line", and various other songs which exposed his most vulnerable feelings in the only way he truly knew how.

"Are these love songs?" Julie asked him.

He took in a breath and furrowed his eyebrows, then nodded, eyes staying on the pages flickering between his fingers.

"They're really good, but..." She looked at him confusedly. "I thought you weren't the romantic type, or whatever." She tucked a curly piece of hair behind her ear.

"Don't listen to what Alex says. I can be romantic when I want to be." He said chuckling, tossing a smirk in the direction of the aforementioned boy.

Julie placed her hand lightly on a page, fingers overlapping slightly with his own. The title of the song she had stopped on was "Lover's Eyes". Her forehead scrunched in confusion. "This isn't your handwriting." She said, pointing to some sentences on a page. "I mean, some of it is but this is too neat to be yours. No offense."

Luke looked up at Alex again, both of them red faced—oddly possible despite their lack of blood, and the latter struggling to come up with an explanation, before shutting his mouth and huffing another sigh. 

"No. You're right. I wrote that song with my ex. It's supposed to be a duet." He told her. "It uh, we actually wrote it after we had already broken up."

She looked at him surprised. "Really?"

"Yup. It was a mutual decision, and what makes for better inspiration than a breakup?" He joked.

Julie rubbed her lips together in contemplation. "What was she like?" She asked him.

"What?" 

"Your ex." The girl clarified.

"Oh! Uh..." Luke looked down at the book, thinking back to memories of when him and Alex were together.

Scenes flashed through his head of him sneaking into Alex's room through the boy's window, of play fighting turning into soft kisses, and of times when nights with their families got rough and they'd find themselves embracing one another for heat and daresay love in the cold of the garage at night.

Luke smiled softly. "Tall, for one. Like unfairly tall." He told the girl, walking and sitting down on the couch. "Blonde. Green eyes. Very nervous, almost constantly, but extremely passionate and open. And trustworthy, too. One time I uh, had a really bad argument with my Mom and Dad, and we just sat here, on this couch; we didn't even talk at first, didn't need to. Eventually I started crying and... I don't know. It's like everything came easy when we were together." 

"Were... Were you together when you died?" Julie questioned.

Luke shook his head. "No, no we broke up a few weeks before that. But like I said, it was mutual. We agreed that we were better off as friends. Technically we already were, there was just some extra intimacy we added that in the end we just felt wasn't necessary." He explained.

The entire time, Alex sat on the piano chair beside Reggie, the two of them listening as Alex's skin tickled with the sense of flusteredness. 

"She sounds... Really sweet." The girl told him genuinely. "What was her name? Maybe we can find her, see how she's doing nowadays."

Luke looked at her, gnawing gently on his bottom lip, before standing up quickly, reaching out his hand to her. "Come. You're gonna hear the song." 

She let herself be pulled up and dragged over to a stool, watching in confusion as Luke pulled his guitar over his head.

"I thought it was a duet?" She chuckled.

"Yup." He responded, popping the p.

"I can't sing it though, I don't know all the words."

He smirked. "You don't have to. And besides, only my ex does." 

The guitarist started strumming a D chord on his six string, filling their makeshift studio with the upbeat tune of instrumentals.

"Love was kind for a time  
But now just aches and it makes me blind.  
This mirror holds my eyes too bright  
But I can't see the others in my life."  
He started to sing.  
"We too young and heads too strong  
To bear the weight of these lovers eyes.  
I feel numb beneath your tongue  
Beneath the curse of these lovers eyes."

Breaching the chorus, Luke started strumming stronger. But when his voice rang out to sing it, he wasn't singing alone.

Julie looked over and saw where Alex sat, singing along, eyes laid softly on Luke.

"But do not ask the price I pay.  
I must live with my quiet rage.  
Tame the ghosts in my head  
That run wild and wish me dead.  
Should you shake my ash to the wind  
Lord forget all of my sins  
And let me die where I lie  
'Neath the curse of these lover's eye."

The puzzle in Julie's head started clicking together slowly, looking between the room, and listening to the music.

"There is no drink or drug I've tried  
To rid the curse of these lover's eyes.  
I feel numb beneath your tongue  
Your strength just makes me feel less strong." Alex sang solo, standing up and walking over to Luke to share the mic where he stood, and repeating the chorus together.

The two came to the end of the song, joined in harmony on the last two lines. Alex rested his head against Luke's forehead, and both of them closed their eyes, taking in the energy of each other.

"I walk slow.  
I walk slow.  
Take my hand  
Help me on my way."

They weren't together anymore, but every step they took was one they continued and would continue to take together, hand in hand, still with the support of their other friend Reggie, and their new friend, Julie.

The two boys closed off the song by vocalizing passionate yells throughout the room, bouncing on the balls of their feet and dancing around, letting out over 25 years worth of pent up emotion. 

Julie and Reggie smiled in glee, dancing along and happy for their friend's gaining a sense of closure for sharing a part of their past.

Luke wiped some tears out of his eyes, a grin plastered on his face in relief. 

"I know I already say this a lot. But I love you guys." He said, making them all coo, and join together for a group hug.

They stood together for a few minutes longer, basking in each other's comfort, before pulling away.

"So, does this mean you're bi?" Julie asked.

Luke reached a hand back to scratch the back of his head. "Uhhh, well I was actually hoping you could help me understand all that? There's a lot more flags that I've seen since the nineties."

She smiled, and agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> this is also a chapter in my main au “Blank Spaces” but I posted it alone as it can also be read as a oneshot
> 
> link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26477947/chapters/64521346
> 
> (copy and paste into tab)


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